Alternate Plans
by AliEnew
Summary: This story takes place after 7th year, the war has ended, Voldemort is dead and the trio has graduated but there are many Death Eaters on the loose, and they are all looking for revenge. Sometimes the best plans are unplanned. A Hermione Charlie Fic.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello Everyone!**

**This is my first story for Hermione and Charlie, and I have been really enjoying writing it so far.**

**Please let me know what you think about it! I'm not sure yet how long this story is going to be but I have the first few chapters already written and just waiting to be edited, hope you like it!**

**Please review, so I know if I should continue or not!**

**This story takes place after 7th year, the war has ended, Voldemort is dead and the trio has graduated but there are many Death Eaters on the loose, and they are all looking for revenge. Also Fred is still alive, he isn't too important in this story but I just couldn't kill him off.**

"Romania!" Hermione said, in a shocked voice. "But I was about to start my internship at St. Mungo's. Surly I will be safe here," Hermione said grasping for straws.

"I'm so sorry Hermione, I know it will be hard. But we talked to the Head Nurse at Vale Crater Medicale, she said that you were welcome to carry out your internship there," Mrs Weasley said, in an patronizing tone.

Hermione couldn't believe this was happening. Only a week ago she had graduated from Hogwarts, looking forward to an internship at St Mungo's. The boys had decided to pursue careers as Auror's and were starting their intensive training course next week. They had begged her to reconsider her career path and join them, but after the war she had decided that she would much rather help heal wounds than create them.

It seemed now that her carefully laid out plan was about to be ruined however. Last night Hermione and Ron had been in Diagon Alley, visiting Fred and George, when they had been ambushed by four Death Eaters. They had barely been able to escape, luckily Hermione had had the foresight to carry a portkey on her at all times, and was able to get she and Ron safely to the Burrow. She was starting to regret that decision now. "And what exactly is Vale Crater Medicale?" Hermione asked, trying to stay calm.

"Let me explain, sit down and finish your tea," Mrs Weasley said gesturing to the chair across from her. Hermione nodded and complied. "Last night there was an emergency Order meeting, you see it was not only you and Ronald that were attacked Harry and Lupin were as well," Hermione gasped suddenly worried if anyone had been hurt. "Don't worry they're fine, it does however seem that these attacks were not random and that the Death Eater's that are still at large have re-grouped and are most surly planning something."

"Yes, I agree," Hermione said, starting to form a few dozen theories as to what the Death Eater's might be planning. "I still don't see why Harry, Ron and I have to go all the way to Romania," she said trying not to sound like a petulant child, and failing.

At the mention of Harry and Ron's names however Mrs Weasley averted her eyes and started fiddling with the faded red pocket on her apron. "Well that's the thing dear, the boys wouldn't be joining you. They will be safe at the Auror training course, they will be surrounded by Aurors around the clock."

"So you expect me to go all the way to Romania, by myself? What am I supposed to do in Romania? And how long exactly did you want me to stay there? A week? A month? A year? I refuse to do it Molly! Im not putting my life on hold because of those... those vermin!" Hermione ended the impassioned declaration by pounding her fist onto the table.

"Be reasonable Hermione," Mrs Weasley said in a placating tone. "You wouldn't be putting your life on hold. As I already told you Madame Arcos, the Head Nurse at Vale Crater Medicale has offered you an internship. Which I may add is very generous, it is one of the top medical centre's in the country, certainly one of the most exciting one's what with it being located on the reserve.

"Reserve?"

"Yes the reserve, you will also not be alone, there would be no point in sending you away unprotected. You will be staying with Charlie. We told him about what happened last night and he was more than happy to let you live with him for awhile."

"You think I will be more safe on a Dragon Reserve!"

"Aww it's not that bad Hermione! Don't worry I won't let you get hurt." Hermione whipped around to see that at some point unknown to her Charlie Weasley had walked in. He looked taller than she remembered, he wasn't as tall as Ron but certainly more muscular, and had more freckles than any of the other Weasley's had.

"Hi Charlie," Hermione said guiltily. "When did you get here?" She asked curiously.

"Last night, after you kids were asleep." Charlie said winking at her. He knew how much it bothered her to be referred to as a kid.

"I'll have you know that I am plenty more mature than you Charlie Weasley." Hermione said falling for the bait.

"Whatever you say, but I'm pretty sure that, being twenty-six makes me older." Charlie said in mock seriousness.

Hermione was about to retort when the door to the living room burst open, "Hermione!" Ron said running straight over to her. "I just heard." Looking over at his mother he said, "Mum you can't let Hermione go to Romania! What the bloody hell is she going to do there!"

"Oi! I'll have you know that she'll have more to do in Romania than she ever will staying here!" Charlie said defensively. Hermione had heard that Charlie could get quite defensive when it came to Romania and his dragons.

"You know what I mean Charlie. Yeah, Romania is great for you, but not for Hermione, she could get killed!"

"Oh Ronald stop being so over dramatic! I _can_ take care of myself you know." Hermione said putting her hands on her hips indignantly.

"I know that, I just worry about you. At least if you're here Harry and I can come see you on weekends." Ron said putting what was supposed to be a comforting arm around her, and squeezing tight.

"So you just expect me to sit around here all summer, doing nothing?"

"At least that way you'll be safe."

"I can't believe that you actually think that I would do that! I would rather go to Romania than be stuck inside until the danger is gone! At least there I could still have a job." _Wait how had that happened? _Hermione thought to herself. _Only five minutes ago she had thought that Romania was the last place she wanted to be. Ron obviously knew her better than she thought_. "Okay, fine I see your point," she said looking at Ron who now had an triumphant glint in his eye. He had obviously planned the whole thing, knowing how she was going to react to the news.

…...

"Don't worry Hermione," Harry said comfortingly.

"Yeah, it won't be so bad," Ron said trying for the same calming tone. They were now in her room at Grimmauld Place, where she had been living since graduating last week the three of them were now in the process of packing her things. Charlie had only been able to get two days off work, which meant that they were leaving tomorrow, and Hermione had to pack all of her things tonight. "Charlie told me that the hospital there is top notch, you'll learn loads." Ron said reassuringly.

"It's not just about the internship," Hermione said a bit teary-eyed. "I'm going to miss you two so much. I thought we had at least another week together, and now I don't know when I'll next see you." She said wiping a few stray tears off her cheek.

"Ron and I promise to visit at the end of summer, once Auror training is over."

"Do you think they will let you?" Hermione said thinking about the rest of the Order.

"They won't be able to stop us," Ron said cheerily.

…...

Hermione woke the next morning to the sound of her bedroom door opening. "Hey Hermione you awake? I knocked but you didn't answer," came the voice of Charlie Weasley.

Hermione looked up groggily at him. "What time is it?" she said through a yawn.

"Just after six. Sorry we have to get such an early start but with Romania being two hours ahead I thought you would want as much of the day as possible to get settled in before I have to go back to work tomorrow."

"No, it's fine I understand. When do we leave?" She said throwing the fluffy white comforter off her.

"In an hour. Is that enough time?" He asked worriedly.

Hermione snorted, she never took that long to get ready, the only time it had taken more than twenty minutes was for the Yule Ball in fourth year. "I think I'll manage," she said sarcastically.

"Oh okay, well you never know with girls."

"You've known girls that take more than an hour to get ready?" Hermione said trying to picture Ginny ever taking that long.

"At one point I was living with one of them," Charlie said with a huff, hinting that things hadn't ended well. Shaking his head he said, "See you down stairs?" She nodded her head and then turned to the neatly folded clothes that she had laid out the night before.

When Hermione walked into the kitchen _fifteen_ minutes later, she noted, she was surprised to see the boys already awake and waiting with coffee and a full blown fry up. "When did you boys wake up?" Hermione said with a huge grin on her face as they offered her a plate piled with her favourite banana raspberry pancakes.

"Only a half hour before you did," Harry said placing what looked to be freshly squeezed orange juice in front of her.

She made a noise at the back of her throat as she took a bite of the banana raspberry pancakes. "These are amazing... thank you boys."

"It's the least we could do considering how many times you've made us breakfast," Ron said digging into his own plate of pancakes and bacon. Hermione was actually quite impressed that he had been able to wait for her to come downstairs before digging in.

"Aren't you going to have some Charlie?" Hermione said looking up at him. Charlie hadn't moved from his position since she had entered the cramped kitchen. At the sound of his name he seemed to snap out of his reverie and took the proffered plate that Hermione had been holding out for him.

"Thanks," He said nodding at her, wiping some of the hair out of his face. He must have grown it out again, Hermione mused, only yesterday Mrs Weasley had gone at him with a pair of magic'd shears, trimming it to just above his scalp, claiming that he needed something short for the summer months. Hermione decided that she liked it this length, it suited him much more than the buzz cut look, it was much too severe for his personality.

The door to the hallway opened then to reveal a breathless Mrs Weasley covered in what looked to be floo powder. "Oh thank goodness you're still here! I thought I'd missed you both!" she said gasping for air.

"Did you run here?" Ron said looking at his mum trying to hold back a laugh.

"Don't be ridiculous Ronald! I was on my way to floo here when I realized we were out of floo powder, it was all used up, what with the members of the Order coming in and out yesterday. I had to run all the way to the Lovegood's house to borrow some from them!"

"Why didn't you just apparate here?

"Because... Because I didn't think of it!" Mrs Weasley said sinking into a chair now feeling totally foolish.

"Would you like some pancakes?" Hermione said pointing to the generous pile still left on the counter. "The boys woke up early this morning to make me breakfast."

"Oh isn't that sweet. What a nice send off indeed!" She said giving them both a big kiss on the cheek.

"Mum! Geroff!" Ron said wiping his cheek furiously trying to rid all evidence of his mother's affections, while the rest of the room laughed at him.

"Arthur sends his regards Hermione, he was upset that he wasn't able to come this morning to see you off. Work you see is very hectic at the moment, and he needed to be in earlier than usual."

"It's all right I understand," Hermione said waving it off good naturedly. "Well I better go get my things we'll be off in a sec," she said with a half hearted smile, as she left the kitchen.

When she came back downstairs with all of her shrunken items in tow, it was to a room filled with more people than before. It seemed that in the last few minutes Fred, George and Ginny had arrived as well, to say goodbye.

She laughed at seeing Charlie being tackled by the twins who hadn't seen him since Christmas.

"Okay you two give your brother some room, the portkey will activate in a minute or two, or do you want to go to Romania too?" Mrs Weasley said sternly.

"Relax Mum! They have five minutes still!" said George finally letting go of his older brother.

"Yeah Mum! Don't worry yourself so much!" Fred added.

"Charlie! You grew your hair back!" Mrs Weasley screamed at him, finally noticing, when he again had to brush some hair out of his eyes.

"There's nothing you can do about it now Mum," Charlie said pulling what looked to be a dragon's tooth out of his coat pocket. "Come on Hermione its almost time."

Hermione quickly said her goodbyes to everyone in the room leaving Ron and Harry for last, knowing that it was going to be the hardest. She had always hated goodbyes and they never seemed to get any easier. Pulling them both in for a fierce hug, she kissed both of them on the cheek and went over to stand next to Charlie. Taking hold of the tooth, she looked at the two of them with teary eyes and said, "Goodbye." Suddenly she felt the familiar yank on her nostrils as she flew through the air, towards, Merlin only knew what.


	2. Norberta

**A/N: Hello Everyone**

**Hope you enjoyed the fist chapter, here is the second one. Also a big thanks to KR1571AN who reviewed my chapter!**

**Please Read and Review!**

**Norberta**

When Hermione opened her eyes again she gasped at what lay before her.

"Beautiful isn't it?" Charlie said, inhaling as much of the Romanian air as possible, almost as if he hadn't been able to breath properly since returning to England.

Everywhere Hermione looked she could see green; green hills, green grass, green trees. They were now standing at the edge of the largest valley Hermione had ever seen, oddly enough it was also in the shape of a circle. In the centre was a large building, which Hermione assumed was Vale Crater Medicale, most of the land was taken up to accommodate the dragons she noticed, but there was a good third or so that seemed dedicated to the witches and wizards that lived here as well. "It's gorgeous Charlie! It seems to go on forever! I see why you love it here so much," she said taking it all in.

"It's the largest dragon reserve in the world. The valley is an almost perfect circle which is pretty unusual in itself, the whole reserve is over seventy-five square kilometres."

"That much? How on earth do you get around?" Hermione said wide-eyed.

"We apparate." Charlie said shrugging his shoulders, there are also floos set up all over the place. You can go to VC by floo tomorrow. If you like, I'll even come with you, you know so I can introduce you to everyone."

"That would be brilliant! Do you know Madame Acros?" Hermione said enthusiastically, she hadn't heard anything about her new boss and was a bit nervous.

"You mean Vi?" He said chuckling. "It's weird hearing her referred to as _Madame Acros_ all her patients know her as Vi, or Violeta, don't worry about her she's strict but fair. Always willing to take the time to explain things to her interns and answer questions. Plus if she knows that you're a friend of mine she's bound to like you!" Charlie said puffing out his chest. "So shall we?" He said offering his arm to her. Without another word, she gripped his arm tightly and closed her eyes.

When she opened them again she saw that they had apparated into the village portion of the valley, right in front of a small brown cottage with white trim, surrounded by a short wooden fence placed on at least an acre of green grass. "Well this is it." Charlie said, sounding a bit embarrassed, though Hermione couldn't see why, it was positively charming.

"It's lovely Charlie, but isn't it a little dangerous to make the homes on a dragon reserve out of wood?" Hermione asked biting her lip.

Charlie chuckled at that. "No we have everything under special enchantments not to catch fire." Opening the gate, Hermione walked down the slate path, noticing patches of moss growing in between the cracks, towards the house. When she walked in she immediately stumbled on a dragon-hide boot. "Err sorry I kind of left in a rush, I didn't really have time to clean up." He said running around the room collecting his dirty clothes and some rubbish that had been strewn around the place. "I know its kind of small and there is only one bedroom but I should be able to make up a nice bed in here for myself so it shouldn't be a problem."

"Oh no Charlie I couldn't. This is your house, I couldn't possibly take the bedroom. I'll sleep out here, really it makes more sense I'm much smaller and will be able to sleep on the cot quite comfortably." Hermione said insistently.

"Well hopefully it won't be an issue for much longer, I've put in a request for a two bedroom cottage. I'm not really sure how long it will take, you never know with those kinds of things." He said shrugging his shoulders, "You take the bed, if for no other reason than if my mum found out she would kill me." Charlie chuckled.

"Well when you say it like that..." Hermione trailed off as she went to explore the rest of the house. Walking a little further into the living room she saw that there was a fire with a beautiful white mantle. On either side of the hearth there were book shelves, Hermione was glad to see that there would be room for a good portion of the books she had brought with her. Reading some of the titles she realized that most of Charlie's books had something or other to do with dragons. Interspersed there were books on _How to tame a Wild Dragon, Dragons of the North, An encyclopedia on Dragons -Now with eleven new breeds!_ and _Life of Flames: The Chronicles of Famous Keeper, Zachary O'Conner_. She laughed when she noticed dragon figurines walking up and down the shelves as if they were guarding their territory. For when she went to reach for a book the green dragon with spikes down its back shot fire out at her.

"Don't worry they warm up to you after awhile they just don't like strangers much." Charlie said reassuringly. "The green one, the Emerald Short Snout, is especially nasty."

Hermione stepped back in fear of loosing an eyebrow, and decided it best to explore the rest of the house.

"Through that door is your bedroom, which has the bathroom attached to it," Charlie said pointing to the door on the left, "And to your right is the kitchen. I know its small but working with dragons kinda becomes your life and you don't really spend too much time here."

"Charlie really, it's lovely. Stop worrying so much."

"So I thought that after you put your things away I could give you the tour of the place and show you how to get around. And somewhere in between we can go to the Mess Hall for lunch, that's where all the dragon keepers have lunch. Its just easier than going home in the middle of the day, plus most of us don't have wives or girlfriends to make us lunch. And if we do they are usually dragon keeper's too." Charlie said chuckling, giving her a warm smile. "I also thought you could meet my friends at lunch, they'll all be there. How does that sound?"

Hermione couldn't get over how she had never noticed the second eldest Weasley before. When first meeting him the year of the Quidditch World Cup she just thought of him as Ron's older brother, who was known to excel at everything. She had admired him at the time after hearing that he had had the choice to play Quidditch professionally but had turned it down for a life of caring after dragons. Not many men she knew would do that, but never had she noticed how utterly attractive he was, nor how infectious his personality was. He had the same kind nature as his father, the brains like Percy, and the ability to make someone smile like Fred & George. Realizing that he was waiting for an answer she replied, "Sounds good to me!" She said, her voice a bit higher than she would have liked.

…...

After Hermione and Charlie finished reorganizing the cottage, they set out, now on their way to the main hub in the village. "This is where Luca and I usually have a pint after work," Charlie said pointing to a pub that had a sign hanging above the door in the shape of a dragon, in gold it read Horntail's_ Hideaway._

"Luca?" Hermione inquired.

"Oh yeah that's right I keep forgetting that you've never met Luca before, he came to the Burrow the Christmas that you guys were on the run. Luca is my best mate here at the reserve, hell he's my best mate anywhere really, besides Bill that is."

"Oh," Hermione said in understanding. "Did you meet Luca here on the reserve?" she asked interested.

"Yeah we started out here at the same time and were bunked up together in the training camps. You only get your own place if you get hired full time." Charlie said in way of explaining.

"When did you get hired full time?"

"Well technically you are working full time even as a trainee. The first year you are paired up with a Keeper, you stick by them at all times so there is always someone keepin' an eye on yeh'. Otherwise there would be a lot more accidents. Any ways they teach you everything they know about being a Keeper and after a year the Keeper then recommends you to the board to be hired full time or they recommend that you do another year of training. Luckily Luca and I were accepted and hired after only a year, we were the only ones that year to get hired, but that's not saying much I think the number of trainee's was a total of five." Charlie chortled. "Being a Dragon Keeper is not a very sought after job."

"I'd put up with a lot more than dragons to live here," Hermione said looking around the village, trying to absorb as much as possible.

"I'm glad you feel that way, you could be here for quite some time." At seeing Hermione's expression fall slightly he went on to say, "Don't worry Hermione, they won't find you here."

"I hope they do come here. That way I can end this and go back to my normal life." Charlie was about to reply when he was cut off by a thick Scottish accent.

"Oi! Charlie!" The tall, burley Scottish man yelled, walking over to them. "Who's the pretty little lass ye' got wit yeh'?" Hermione was instantly wary of this man, though if he was a friend of Charlie's he couldn't be that bad.

"Easy Cailean, this is my baby brother's friend Hermione. She's starting at VC tomorrow and I thought I'd give her a tour of the place."

"Yer brother's friend eh? Well pleased to meet yeh'!" It's not often that I get t' meet such a beautiful lass as y'rself." Cailean said, giving her a devilish wink as he kissed her hand. "So Hermione where are yeh stayin'?"

"I'm actually staying with Charlie." Hermione responded still a little stunned by Cailean's reaction to her. It wasn't often that men were coming up to her calling her beautiful.

"Are yeh' now," turning to Charlie, Cailean said, "Just yer' baby brother's friend eh? I've been to yer place Charlie. It's mighty tight in there for two _friends_ to live in comfortably." Cailean said sceptically.

"I'm sleeping on the couch, don't let that imagination start assuming things." Charlie said laughing it off. "I put in a request for a two bedder but who knows how long that'll take."

"Well Hermione if you get tired of 'dis fella yer always welcome ter stay with me." Cailean said wagging his eyebrows suggestively. Hermione giggled at the outrageousness of this man.

"I'll keep that in mind," Hermione said good naturedly.

"Well we better be off Cailean, I still have to show her the rest of the village before lunch," Charlie said coming up to stand beside Hermione.

"See yer at the mess hall then." Cailean said before taking Hermione's hand in his own and giving it a kiss. Hermione blushed when he looked up giving her a devilish wink. "Goodbye Miss Hermione."

"Bye Cailean," Charlie said in a warning tone.

"Bye Cailean," Hermione said cheerily. Turning to Charlie she said, "So what's next on the tour?"

"I thought that maybe I could show you the dragons that I'm in charge of. Do you mind being that close to dragons?" Charlie said hesitantly.

"I'd love to see the dragons!" Hermione said enthusiastically, eyes wide.

"Really? You're not afraid?" Charlie said bemused.

"Well if I was facing them alone I'd be utterly terrified, but you know what you're doing, I trust your judgement."

"Well okay then. Let's go!" And without another word from either of them Charlie took her hand and apparated them away.

When they landed Hermione looked around tentatively, trying to spot any sort of threat, but it seemed that Charlie had apparated them to an entirely dragon-free field. "This is the spot that I apparate to every morning. It's a sectioned off area that dragons can't come near. It's to make sure that there is a safe way for us to arrive, otherwise we could end up appearing right in front of their face and startling the poor creatures," Charlie said in explanation.

"That makes sense, I guess I hadn't thought about it," Hermione said.

"It will eventually become second nature to you. Thinking about how your every move could possibly affect the dragons." Charlie said.

"You sound like a parent." Hermione said giggling.

"I guess that's what I sort of am." Charlie said chuckling. "Come on lets go find you a dragon to pet," Charlie said mischievously.

"You're not serious!" Hermione squeaked.

"No but your expression was worth the lie, you look utterly terrified," Charlie said laughing.

As Hermione followed Charlie down a dirt path she began to wonder how tame these dragons were. Knowing that Charlie was probably well aware of their limits she wasn't too worried. "Charlie?" she said after about ten minutes of walking in silence, "How much further are we going to be walking?" she inquired, trying not to sound like a child.

"We're almost there look," Charlie said, pointing at a man in the distance, as they came to the summit of the small mountain they had been climbing. "That's Smith, another Keeper on the reserve, if he's here that means that Norberta isn't too far away. He's supposed to be monitoring her."

"Why does she need to be monitored?" Hermione asked concerned, she did after all have a history with this particular dragon.

"Nothing to be worried about, she's pregnant." Charlie said with glee as they started to walk towards the keeper named Smith. "It's not too common for dragon's to breed in captivity. We usually only have about three or four births a year which is not a lot considering we have over three hundred dragons on the reserve, two hundred and thirteen of them being female. So it's taken very seriously here."

"Why so few?" Hermione asked, brows furrowed.

"Well one reason is that it takes longer than nine months for a dragon to hatch."

"Really? I had no idea." Hermione said enthusiastically.

"Yup, for dragons its more like fourteen months."

"What's the other reason?" Hermione said eager to learn more.

"Dragon's mate for life see, and many of them have mates that are still in the wild, and then there are some where their mates have passed away. Once a dragon has chosen it's mate, that's it for them." Charlie said looking sad for a moment. "Luckily for Norberta she found her mate here on the reserve, and hopefully if we Keepers do our jobs right, they should have a very long and healthy life together," he said smiling now.

"We will have to owl Hagrid a picture of the happy family after the baby has hatched," Hermione said with a smile, thinking about the new family.

"That's a great idea I'm sure Hagrid will be thrilled, I have to admit I've been bad about sending Hagrid updates." Charlie said looking a tad guilty as they came in speaking distance of the Keeper named Smith. "Oi! Smith!" Charlie called out.

"Charlie! Where'ya been?" Smith inquired. Like Charlie, Smith had red hair, although it was starting to fade into the background giving way to some grey, Hermione guessed him to be in his mid forties. He was also much taller than the second eldest Weasley, and had blue eyes. It seemed so far, at least to Hermione, that one of the requirements to be a dragon keeper was that you had to be at least mildly attractive if not drop dead gorgeous.

"Family emergency." Charlie said in way of explaining. "Where's Luca? I haven't seen him all day, and I've looked in all the usual spots."

"He didn't tell you?" Smith said looking surprised. "He was assigned to go pick up a wild Chinese Fireball just north of Lanzhou. He should be gone for at least two weeks."

"Two weeks? For a fireball?"

"Apparently he did some damage in a few local villages, there isn't anyone else to clean up after it so they have to." Smith said shrugging his shoulders. "So who's you're friend?" he said nodding in Hermione's direction.

"Oh sorry! I forgot you two don't know each other." Charlie said upset at himself for being so daft. "Smith this is my brother Ron's friend Hermione, she will be starting at VC tomorrow and I'm just showing her around. Hermione this is Smith he is the best keeper I know." Hermione's eyebrows rose, obviously impressed with the declaration.

"Nah, not the best." Smith said embarrassed. "Maybe better than most, but not the best."

"You know it's true, you taught me after all. And I think I turned out pretty well." Charlie said puffing out his chest.

"Well that _is _true." Smith admitted with a chuckle. "Will I see you later at the Horntail?"

Charlie looked over at Hermione for a moment before answering. "Not sure I'll be able to make it tonight, but maybe later this week."

"Suit yourself." Smith said shrugging his shoulders.

Their conversation was cut short when they heard a rustling from the bushes nearby. Charlie and Smith both had their eyes fixed on the area. All three were now quietly waiting for the appearance of Norberta. Slowly the Norwegian Ridgeback began to make her way into the clearing near a large cauldron that Hermione hadn't noticed before.

"Still feeding her brandy mixed with chicken's blood?" Charlie asked.

"Yup. Soon we'll have to change to cow's blood, but not for another week or so, the fetus is too young." Smith replied.

"Why will you be changing to cow's blood?" Hermione asked curiously looking up at Charlie.

It was Smith however who replied, "As Charlie said already, it takes fourteen months for a baby dragon to be born. The female dragon is known to keep the egg inside until as late as the eleventh month. The last three months that the egg is inside the female dragon are by far the most important for a dragon fetus. They start growing rapidly and therefore need more nutrients, and cow's blood is a good source of everything it needs."

"Fascinating." Hermione said eyes wide watching Norberta drink up the vile concoction.

"Isn't it?" Charlie said with same look in his eyes. It was funny how none of it ever seemed to get old to him, no matter how many times he came upon a dragon, he was amazed at the magesticness of them.

After another half hour the silence was broken by Hermione's stomach growling. Hermione's face blushed crimson when she realized Charlie and Smith had been able to hear it as well.

"Blimey Hermione! If you were that hungry why didn't you say something?" Charlie said chuckling.

"I hadn't noticed, I was too caught up watching Norberta I guess."

"Let's go get you something to eat." Charlie said starting to head towards the Mess Hall.

"There's no need to do that. I don't mind waiting a little bit." Hermione said.

"Nonsense! Besides everyone will be there already." Charlie said brushing it off.

"Yeah and maybe Charlie can introduce you to some of the nurse's, he certainly knows enough of 'em!" Smith teased.

"Oi! I don't know _that_ many nurse's." Charlie said shoving Smith as they walked up the path towards the mess hall.

"You know enough." Smith said with an evil smirk.

"Do the nurse's eat there as well?" Hermione asked brightening up. It would be lovely to meet some of her co-workers the day before, especially if she had Charlie with her to help break the ice.

"Yup, but most of them are usually too busy to talk," Charlie said mater-of-factly.

"Oh." Hermione said a bit crest fallen.

"Relax Hermione you'll meet everyone tomorrow, trust me, most of them are really nice." Charlie said in an attempt to comfort her.

"It's the _mostly_ part that concerns me." Hermione muttered under her breath, following the two unusually chatty men towards the Mess Hall.


	3. Introductions

**A/N:**

**Hi everyone! Thanks again to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! It really means so much to me!**

**This next chapter is a little shorter than the rest but I introduce a few new characters, let me know what you think!**

**Speaking of new, I'd like to give a huge thanks to my new BETA KR1571AN!**

**Read and Review!**

After about fifteen minutes Hermione was starting to wonder if they were ever going to make it there. "Umm Charlie? Where exactly is this Mess Hall?" They were at the top of a large hill now and still she couldn't see anything but Vale Crater in sight.

"You're standing on it." Charlie said with a satisfied smile.

"What?" Hermione said looking down at the grassy lawn that was the hill they had been climbing.

"Yup, the people who designed this place wanted it to fit in with the land, so they built it into the land. The Mess Hall and Keeper Offices are contained in this hill. Pretty cool huh?" Charlie said, with pride.

"I'd say so." Hermione said impressed looking at the land with a whole new appreciation. Upon making it down to the other side of the hill, Hermione noticed two glass sliding doors, constantly opening and closing to let people enter and exit.

"We're a bit late, it's going to be quite busy in there, but I'm sure that Cailean has saved you a seat!" Charlie said winking at her.

"Oh Merlin, Cailean fancies Hermione?" Smith chuckled, looking over at Hermione, "Good luck with that one."

Hermione nervously turned to Charlie, "He isn't that awful is he?"

"Cailean's harmless, don't listen to Smith. He's just trying to worry you." Charlie said, sending a warning look over to Smith, as they entered the Mess Hall.

"Oi! Charlie! Smith!" yelled a tall blonde man, sitting at a long table to the far right.

"That's Julian, he's another Keeper, only a year below Luca and I," Charlie whispered. "Come on it looks like they've got a few seats open." Charlie said leading the way to a very crowded table. Smith went and took an open seat a little ways down giving Charlie and Hermione the two seats together.

"Where've you been? We missed you at the Hideaway last night!" Julian said slapping Charlie on the back. He was much larger then Charlie, not only in height but also in muscle, he had green eyes, that were hidden half the time by a mane of curly blonde hair. Hermione could tell by his expressions that he was definitely the comedian of the group, like Fred and George were in the Weasley family, she thought quickly, a lump forming in her throat as she thought of home.

"I had a family thing, no big deal." Charlie said trying to avoid questions.

"And you've brought someone back with you, this your little sis Ginny, was it? She doesn't look much like you." Julian said eyeing Hermione speculatively.

"Nah, she's not my sister." Charlie said shaking his head with a smile. "This is Hermione, my brother Ron's friend she is starting at VC tomorrow and I'm giving her the grand tour."

"Ahyeah?" Julian said now looking over at Hermione. "So how are you liking it so far?" He asked genuinely curious.

"I like it," Hermione said, timidly, he was after all _quite_ intimidating.

"Good, you'll love it soon enough," Julian said confidently.

Charlie then began introducing Hermione to the rest of the table, this included Henry, Daniel and his girlfriend Chloe who was also a Keeper, Damien, Rhys, Jezza, Mark, Smith, who she already knew and Garrett. Hermione quickly repeated all of their names, trying to memorize each one. _Charlie certainly is popular_, Hermione thought to herself. From the sounds of things this seemed to be Charlie's usual group, they worked together in a unit meaning that they all rotated jobs together, in other words these people were his adopted family.

Hermione decided that it was appropriate for Charlie to have such a big adopted family, considering the size of his real one. Mark and Smith were the eldest of the group and looked upon to be the wise and all knowing elders of the clan. Henry, being the youngest, only two years older than Hermione, and the only trainee, was the little brother that everyone picked on, but loved none the less. Daniel and Chloe were the sickeningly perfect couple that makes you think _Why can't I have that?_. Damien was, well- there was no other word for it, the cool one. He was the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome in Hermione's eyes, and from the five minute conversation she had with him, could tell he was very intelligent as well. Then there was Garrett, he was quieter than the others. He also loved a good debate, which Hermione was very glad to hear about, it wasn't very often that she found someone who actually _liked _to debate and was good at it. _Last,_ but certainly _not _least there wereRhys, Jezza and Julian, all became Keeper's in the same year, and turned almost any situation into a joke, reminding Hermione very much of the twins back home. Hermione couldn't believe how lucky Charlie was to have all of these people in his life, she suddenly realized how easy it must be for him to loose track of how much time has passed since he last returned home. While at the Burrow, Hermione would always hear Mrs Weasley talking of how she never saw Charlie enough and it was like pulling teeth getting him to return.

Half an hour later after saying all of their goodbyes, Hermione and Charlie made their way to the apparition spot, laughing about one of the many pranks that Jezza had played on Henry during lunch. Arriving back home Hermione immediately collapsed on the couch. Looking up at Charlie she sighed.

Charlie gave her a confused look and said, "What?"

"Are _all_ of your friends that attractive?" Hermione said in an almost envious tone.

"What'dya mean?" Charlie said, a confused look crossing his face.

"Charlie, you can't be _that_ daft! You must have noticed how attractive all of your friends are." Hermione all but guffawed.

"I suppose. I never really thought about it." Charlie shrugged. At seeing Hermione's disbelieving look, he continued. "I mean I guess Luca has had a lot of girlfriends, but other than that I hadn't thought about it."

"Well trust me they are." Hermione said rolling her eyes.

"Well then you should be happy." Charlie said with a smile.

"Why's that?" Hermione said, as Charlie sat down beside on the couch.

"Because as you were chatting away with Damien, the rest of my friends were talking about how much they like you, and how they want you to be a part of the family." Charlie said smiling.

"Really? They made their mind up that fast?" Hermione said disbelievingly.

"Our job is based on instincts, we get pretty good at using them, and their instincts tell them that they like you." Charlie said.

"Good, I'm glad, I have to admit I'm not so good at first impressions," Hermione grimaced, thinking of the first time she met Harry and Ron on the train to Hogwarts.

"I think you did splendidly. So is there anything else you'd like to see today? Or do you just want to relax here?" Charlie asked.

"I'm good for now, maybe later though?"

"That's fine with me."

"I do have one question though," Hermione added. "Where were all the nurses during lunch? I saw a few but they were all sitting at one long table and there weren't enough to account for _all_ of the nurses at the hospital."

Charlie leaned back a bit more in the couch and said, "Yeah, most of the hospital staff don't go to the Mess Hall for lunch, most of them are too busy, like I said before. And when they do go to the Mess Hall, they usually keep to themselves." At seeing Hermione's face fall he went onto say, "But that doesn't mean that you have to, you're welcome to sit with us!" Charlie smiled genuinely.

"Thanks, I'll probably take you up on that." Hermione smiled back.

HCHCHCHCHC

Hermione woke up bright and early the next day. Last night she had spent hours reading up on Vale Crater Medicale, and had learned of its reputation as the best healing centre in the world, while St. Mungo's was ranked fifth, making her even more anxious than she had been before. She was now very thankful that she had woken up early, this had given her the time she needed to wake Charlie up, it seemed that he was neither an easy riser, nor a morning person. Practically having to carry him to the shower, Hermione went to go make them both breakfast.

"Hermione why are we leaving? You're not supposed to be there for another half hour. It only takes two minutes to get to if we apparate," Charlie complained.

"I want to show them that I am a hard worker, and that I can live up to their standards!" Hermione said, "Will you apparate me there? I haven't actually been there before." She said holding out her hand. Rolling his eyes, Charlie grasped the slightly sweaty palm and apparated her to the front doors of Crater Medicale. "Here you go!" Charlie said, sounding a lot like a parent dropping their child off at school for the first time.

"But I thought you were coming with me!" Hermione panicked.

"Don't worry, I wasn't going to leave, I was just going to go get some tea, and meet you up stairs, that all right? Or would you like to come with me? You certainly have enough time." Charlie said, teasing.

"Oh all right then, I wouldn't mind a cuppa myself." Hermione muttered.

HCHCHCHCHC

"Vi! How are you? It's been ages!" Charlie said walking over to the rather plump woman known as Madame Acros.

"Yes, I haven't seen you since that horntail broke your arm and leg two months back." Madame Acros smiled appreciatively. "How are you my dear."

"I'm great, my right arm and leg have never felt better!" Charlie said, flexing his limbs.

"Than why are you here?"

"I wanted to introduce you to your new and most promising intern." Charlie said pulling Hermione forward.

"Ah yes Miss Granger, I presume. I have heard many good things about you, top of your class at Hogwarts, and of course let us not forget you fought by Harry Potter's side when he defeated He-who-must-not-be-named." Madame Acros said peering down at Hermione, giving her an examining glare. "I must tell you now Miss Granger that this is not a job for someone looking for a publicity stunt, you will be overworked and under appreciated, but if healing is your passion than there is no better place to be."

"Yes ma'am, that's what I want, I'm not looking for glory, or anything like that," Hermione replied timidly.

"All right then," Madame Acros said. She turned her head to Charlie and snapped, "Go Charlie, I can take it from here."

"Okay, Vi. Hermione I'll see you at home all right? Good luck!" Charlie said waving goodbye. Hermione had never felt like more of a first year than she did at that moment.

"Okay Miss Granger let's see what you can do. First I will have you go through proper procedure with Avery. AVERY!" A second later a thin man with glasses too large for his face popped up in front of them.

"Yes Madame Acros?" Avery said in a very nasal voice.

"Miss Granger is a new intern, please see that she is taken through the proper procedure tactics of this healing centre." Madame Acros said reading a passing patients chart as she spoke.

"Yes Ma'am!" Avery said, barely holding back a salute.

"Granger, I'll see you at the end of the week, it will take you a few days to fully grasp what is procedure around here. Till then." Madame Acros nodded and then she was off, fluttering from patient to patient as she went.

"Okay Miss Granger let's start you on proper procedure for burns, as those are the most common of injuries here at VC," Avery began.

HCHCHCHCHC

That night when Hermione arrived home it was to find Charlie waiting with dinner already on the table. "I thought you might just want to eat and then go straight to bed." He said looking at her sympathetically.

"Too right you are." Hermione replied already starting on her dinner. She was exhausted, it had been a very long day, not that she was complaining though, she could already tell that she was going to love her job, it was more than she could have every hoped for at St. Mungo's. She still had four more days of training to go through but after that she would be an official intern, and would be helping healers out in the field.

"Everyone told me to tell you good luck with the new job by the way, they all missed you at lunch today." Charlie said referring to his friends that she had met the day before.

"I won't be able to go to lunch all this week but I have Sunday off and I should be able to have lunch with you starting next week, if I'm lucky! But I can't say for sure yet." Hermione said excitedly.

"Only been in the bizz twelve hours and you've already turned into one of them." Charlie tutted, shaking his head at her.

"Charlie! Be reasonable, I can't take long lunch breaks on my first week!" Hermione said though bites of her spaghetti.

"Sure," Charlie said sceptically. "We'll see."


	4. New Friends and New Enemies

**New Friends and New Enemies **

_A week later found Hermione busy as usual. It was her first official day as an intern, and she wanted to impress. Showing up a half hour early she was immediately ordered by Madame Arcos to help on the North East sector, field C-3. Apparently two male dragons had gotten into a fight, and there were some keepers caught in the crossfire. Breathing a sigh of relief, knowing that Charlie and her friends were assigned to the North West sector this week she apparated away._

Upon arriving she went to find the head healer of the scene, a Madame Winfrey. "Yes, you! What's your name?" an older woman dressed in VC robes called to Hermione.

"Hermione, Hermione Granger," Hermione replied.

"Oh yes, you're the new intern aren't you." It wasn't a question, "I'm Madame Winfrey, do you have portkeys with you? And burn kits?" Hermione nodded in the affirmative. "Good. There are three men that need their burns tended to and then you can send them over to VC!" she ordered over the moans of her patient, who, by the looks of it, had lost a limb that Madame Winfrey was now attempting to reattach.

Hermione began running as fast as she could over to the bodies that Madame Winfrey had pointed to. Many people thought that burns weren't that dangerous, and most of the time they weren't. There were occurrences though that, if on the wrong part of the body, could hit an organ and be deadly. Hermione made it over to the first patient, and knelt by his side. He didn't seem to be too badly injured, only his right arm had been burned, superficially. Quickly she poured some Dittany on it, reaching into her pocket she grabbed out a necklace, one of many, and placed it around the man's neck, whispering the _portus_ spell to send him to VC for further care.

When she continued onto the second, she could see that his injuries were a lot worse and hastened to pour the Dittany over his injuries, which extended over the entire length of the left side of his body. She then wrapped and secured wet towels that had been soaked in burn salve around the worst of the burns. Again she grabbed a necklace and placed it around the man's neck just as he started to thank her for the first bit of relief he had had since the pain started.

When Hermione arrived at the third victim, she was worried to see the man already unconscious. As quickly as she could she poured the Dittany onto his wounds and wrapped the burn salve cloths around his burnt body, this time when pulling out a necklace she pulled out a red one, indicating that this would transport the patient to the IHU, the Intensive Healing Unit, of the hospital.

When Hermione returned to where Madame Winfrey was, she could see that the healer was not able to talk as she was concentrating on mending her patient's arm. Looking for something to do she saw a thin, blond and slightly severe young woman helping a man with his burns, deciding that she could help she knelt beside the man and the other healer and began to take out her Dittany. "What do you think you are doing?" the healer asked in a dangerous tone. Hermione looked up at her, startled to see this woman glaring daggers at her.

"Oh, I just thought that I would help," Hermione said innocently.

"Well you thought wrong, didn't you," the healer said. "Look I know who you are. You're just another celebrity looking for a _photo op," _the healer said, saying the last two words with disgust. "But for some of us this isn't a game, so please, take your publicity stunt somewhere else, where you won't be risking lives." Hermione was so offended and so affronted that she didn't know what to say.

"I'm- I'm sorry, I was only trying to help," Hermione whispered, watching the healer put Dittany on the unconscious patient.

"Leave her alone Stela," came the voice of a woman Hermione hadn't noticed before, only four feet away from them, attending to her own patient. "I could use some help over here," she said beckoning Hermione to come and sit by her. Hermione gladly moved over to sit by the other woman. "Ignore Stela, she doesn't get out much. I'm Linny by the way, you're Hermione Granger right?"

"Right," Hermione said, starting to apply burn salve to Linny's patient's right calf.

"Your friends with Charlie Weasley, right? I saw you sitting with him in the Mess Hall last week," Linny inquired.

"Yeah, Charlie is letting me live with him while I'm here for my internship," Hermione explained.

"That was nice of him," Linny replied.

Hermione snorted and said, "Not that he had much choice, I feel kind of bad, his Mum kind of forced him to take me in, now he's sleeping on the couch."

"I don't think he seems to mind." A smirk playing at the corner of Linny's mouth.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Hermione raised her eyebrows.

"Nothing, I just meant that nothing ever really seems to bother him too much, well unless you count Katherine."

"Katherine?" Hermione inquired.

"She was Charlie's girlfriend. They were pretty serious, they lived together for at least a year, then one day she was gone. I don't know the whole story, but Charlie was in bits after she left, first time he ever missed work. But Luca snapped him out of it, and he seems fine now," Linny finished, shrugging her shoulders.

"Sorry, are you a friend of Charlie's?" Hermione inquired.

"Oh no, it's just a small community, word travels pretty fast, you hear everything about everyone. You'll learn that soon enough," Linny said with a smile. "And don't worry about Stela, and what she said about you.

"I'm used to it by now, it seems that everyone always knows my business, or at least they think they do," Hermione said thinking about the latest article Rita Skeeter had written up about her. It had had something to do with a passionate love affair she had supposedly been having with Victor Krum, and how she had broken his heart, none of which was true.

"Linny! Granger! Return to VC, we're almost through here," Madame Winfrey hollered at them.

"All right Madame Winfrey," Linny shouted back, standing up.

"So how long have you been an intern?" Hermione asked.

"Just over five months," Linny replied. "See you back on level five?"

"See you there," Hermione replied, and then they both popped out of sight.

HCHCHCHCHC

"Why do you keep checking your watch?" Linny asked Hermione, they had been working furiously for the past three hours, helping the healers in the IHU.

"I was hoping to have lunch in the Mess Hall today," Hermione answered, embarrassed that she had been caught. Twenty minutes later Hermione's prayers were answered when she and Linny were let go for lunch by Madame Acros.

"I thought they'd never let us go!" Linny said, letting out a sigh as they walked into the Mess Hall. Hermione started making her way over to the right, where she could see Charlie and _the gang_ as she had come to call them, sitting in their usual spots. She realized then that Linny was not beside her, turning around she saw Linny making her way over to where the rest of the healers were sitting.

"Linny!" Hermione said running up to her new friend, "Why don't you come sit with me?" Hermione offered, gesturing over to the table full of dragon keepers.

"It's all right, I'm going to sit over here, but I'll see you after lunch okay?" Linny said good naturedly.

"Oh. all right then, talk to you then," Hermione responded, walking back over to where Charlie and the rest of her new friends sat.

"Hermione! We thought you weren't going to make it!" Julian said, throwing his arm around her.

"Yeah, we thought that you'd forgotten about all of us lowly keepers!" Jezza added.

"So how is your first day as an official intern going?" Charlie asked.

"It's been brilliant so far, I did have a run in with a slightly unpleasant woman but nothing too serious," Hermione said, brushing it off.

"Hold on, someone isn't being nice to our Hermione?" Rhys interrupted.

"Yeah! Who is this foul person that would dare commit such a horrible crime?" Jezza asked.

"We'll mess'em up for yeh!" Julian added, needing to have his word.

"It's really not something that needs to be dealt with, I think I just stepped on her toes is all, now I know better," Hermione answered diplomatically.

"Come on tell us Hermione, who is it?" Chloe asked.

"I'm not sure what her surname is but her first name is Stela." At seeing the ripple of changed expressions on the groups faces Hermione added, "What? Do you all know her?"

"Oh we know her all right," Daniel said, looking over at Damien.

Hermione looked over at Damien, hoping for answers, "She was my girlfriend a while back," Damien said coolly. For the first time ever she had seen this happy bunch, not so happy. It was odd, to say the least.

"What happened?" Hermione chided herself for being so nosey, but she just had to know.

"Maybe another time," Damien answered. Hermione was disappointed, but decided that it was best not to push it any further.

"I did make a new friend today, she's an intern as well," Hermione said changing the subject.

"That's great, was it that girl you walked in with earlier?" Charlie said, looking over at Linny and the rest of the healers.

"Yeah, her name is Linny," Hermione replied.

"Hmm Linny, I don't think I've ever come across her at the _Horntail_," Jezza mused, "What about you Henry?" He said wagging his eyebrows. Henry blushed, shaking his head no.

"She doesn't really seem like the type to frequent the _Horntail_," Hermione replied.

"Garrett, what about you? Do you know Linny?" Julian asked.

"I've met her," Garrett said simply.

"Really? Where?" Julian asked, a bit surprised by Garrett's answer.

"We have some mutual friends," Garrett replied.

"Whatd'yeh mean? _We_ are your friends." Julian said gesturing to the table.

"I have other friends besides you lot," Garrett said taking a bite out of his sandwich.

"Well this is news to us!" Rhys all but laughed.

"Well? What's she like?" Daniel asked,

"She seemed nice, I'd hardly say I know the girl."

"Hon-est-ly," Julian dragged out the word. "It's like pulling teeth with this one, can never get a straight answer out of him."

"Well I've met her and I think she's very nice," Hermione stated.

"Well if Hermione says she's nice, then I say she's nice too!" Rhys declared.

"I second that!" Added Jezza.

"Lovely now that we have that settled, I'm going to have my lunch, I've only got fifteen minutes left before I have to return," Hermione said starting her lunch.

HCHCHCHCHC

The two weeks followed very much in the same fashion. Hermione rushing off to work at the crack of dawn, meeting Charlie and Co. for lunch and then returning home well past nine in the evening, where she and Charlie would sit on the couch with a glass of wine and tell each other about their day.

If a month ago someone had told her that she would be living on a dragon reserve with Charlie Weasley, while working at the local hospital, and enjoying it, she would have sent them to the psych ward in St. Mungo's. But the truth of the matter was that she _was_ enjoying herself. She had a great group of friends, the perfect job, and she lived in a beautiful cottage with Charlie, who was quickly becoming her best friend. As her mother had always said, _Life works in mysterious ways my dear, live with it._ _Well I can certainly live with this._ Hermione thought to herself.

They had even been out to the _Horntail_ a few times with the rest of the group. It wasn't really Hermione's scene, but somehow she always got roped into coming by Jezza, Rhys and Julian. Either by complimenting her endlessly, and telling her that the night wouldn't be nearly as fun without her or by physically carrying her there.

It had been just over two weeks since Hermione had come to the reserve, Charlie had had to work late that evening, leaving Hermione to make dinner alone. Deciding to just eat quickly at the Mess Hall, she had arrived home even later than usual. Upon entering she could tell that Charlie was still out, not seeing his dragon hide boots anywhere. It had been an extra long day today, she had been assigned to work along side Stela, which hadn't been fun. She had spent the whole day trying (and failing) to not get on Stela's bad side. All she wanted to do now was get into bed and forget this day had ever happened.

When she entered her bedroom however, she discovered her bed to already be occupied. It wasn't Charlie, and it didn't look to be one of the boys either, and so Hermione began to panic, _There is a man in my bed that I have never seen before. _


	5. Surprises

Chapter 5

When she entered her bedroom however, she discovered her bed to already be occupied. Not by Charlie, and it didn't look to be one of the boys either, Hermione began to panic, _There is a man in my bed that I have never seen before. _She thought to herself. _There has to be a logical explanation for this. _

"Umm excuse me, who are you?" Hermione said poking the strange, albeit, gorgeous man in her bed. Seeing that poking him wasn't doing the trick she sent a small, but very effective stinging hex his way. This _did _seem to do the trick.

"OWWW!" The stranger yelled, jumping out of bed. "Merlin! What on earth did you-" He stopped seeing Hermione standing in front of him. "Who are you?"

"I think I should be the one asking that, as it is _my_ bed that you just vacated." Hermione said crossing her arms, a stern expression on her face.

"This isn't your bed!" He yelled back.

"Yes it is, I think I know where my own bloody bed is." Hermione said starting to get angry at this stranger.

"This is Charlie's place isn't it?" The man said scratching his head.

"Yes but this is my bed. Wait, you know Charlie?" Hermione said confused. "Who are you?"

"_Yes,_ I know Charlie, and the name's Luca." He said walking past her and out into the living room, still rubbing the spot on his bum where the stinging hex had hit him..

"So _you're_ the Luca that everyone is always talking about." Hermione said, everything now clicking into place. "Wait, that still doesn't answer why you were in my bed, or Charlie's bed."

"I came to say hi to Charlie, but he wasn't here. I was getting tired, and figured I go take a kip and he'd wake me up when he came home. Instead I got a stinging jinx on the arse and a game of twenty questions."

"I'm sorry, but what else was I supposed to do? I come home after a long day at work, I'm all alone because Charlie's working late and then there is a strange man in my bed. I think I reacted quite well actually, under the circumstances," she said, putting her hands on her hips.

"Sorry, I guess I didn't really think about it like that. Wait who are _you_? Last time I checked Charlie didn't have a girlfriend." It seemed that it was now Hermione's turn to answer some questions.

"I'm just a friend of Charlie's he's letting me stay with him while I intern at VC." Hermione explained.

"Do you have a name?" Luca asked.

"Hermione."

"I'm surprised," Luca commented. "Charlie vowed never to live with a girl again, after the one failed attempt."

"I'd say our situation is a little different from the last time, as Charlie is sleeping on the couch." Hermione replied.

"Nope that sounds about right." Luca nodded his head. "At least towards the end," he added sadly.

"Right well I think I'll turn in for the night, you're welcome to stay and wait for Charlie if you like. He should be home-"

"Luca!" Charlie said walking into the tiny cottage. "When'd you get back?"

"Only a few hours ago!" Luca said giving his friend a hug. "I see a lot of things have changed in the last two weeks," he said gesturing to Hermione.

"Oh yeah, I didn't have a chance to tell you, you left before Hermione and I arrived." Charlie said explaining.

"I wish you'd have told me, I almost scared the poor girl to death tonight when she walked into her bedroom to find a stranger sleeping in it! Course she wasn't to o scared to perform a pretty nasty stinging hex, so I couldn't have scared her _that_ badly." Luca said starting to laugh.

Charlie started laughing, as he pictured Luca getting stung with a stinging jinx. "Sorry 'bout that. I should have warned her that you tend to come and go as you please." Charlie said wiping some of the tears out of his eyes.

"Come on let's go to the Horntail, I think Smith and Damien are there tonight." Charlie said putting his jacket back on.

"Sounds good to me!" Luca said putting his boots on. "It was nice meeting you Hermione!" Luca said, giving her a winning smile and a wink.

_ And I thought Damien was attractive, he has nothing on this guy_, Hermione gushed. Luca was just over six feet with blonde hair to just above his shoulder, he was at least half Italian, and had the olive skin to prove it, along with the most piercing blue eyes Hermione had ever seen. Like all Keeper's Luca had a well toned body, with the perfect amount of muscle, not too big, but you knew that he could hold his own in a fight. "Have fun!" Hermione said waiving goodbye at the pair.

HCHCHCHCHC

"So Hermione, what are you going to do on your first weekend off?" Linny said as they walked back from the Mess Hall on Friday afternoon, after lunch. Hermione had now been an intern at VC for almost two months now, and this weekend was to be her first break since she had started.

"I hardly know. I haven't had three full days off since before I started working here. Not that I'm complaining I love working here, it keeps my mind off of other things." Hermione said evasively.

"Why don't you come over to my place tonight, we both get off at five today, come over around six thirty, seven, I'll make you dinner!"

"You're sure you don't mind? You must have better things to do than cook me dinner." Hermione replied.

"Nonsense! I don't have to work tomorrow either, we can both sleep in." Linny replied, a huge smile across her face.

"All right, I'll come over around seven then!"

"Lovely."

HCHCHCHCHC

"Hey Charlie, Luca." Hermione smiled at them as she made her way to her bedroom. She had been late leaving the hospital as usual and was now running a little late for dinner at Linny's.

"What about me Herms! Don't you care about me?" Julian said a childish pout playing across his face as he came out of the kitchen with a bottle of Charlie's favourite Romanian beer.

"Sorry Julian, didn't seeya there!" Hermione said, closing the door quickly getting undressed, and wrapping a towel around her now naked body. As soon as she stepped back out into the living room to make her way to the shower, Julian let out a wolf whistle. "Be quiet Jules, I'm so late, I really don't have time for this," she scolded him, making her way across the living room as fast as possible.

"Oh come on Herms! You know you want me!" Julian teased, chasing after Hermione had become one of his favourite past times in the last month or so. Hermione didn't take it seriously though. "Utter bollocks," she said walking into the bathroom. Just before she closed the door she turned and said, "Oh Julian," in the most seductive voice she could muster, it must have been pretty good, as she saw the Australian start to blush, "Don't ever call me _Herms_ again." She punctuated the last word with a carefully aimed stinging hex. Hermione smiled as she heard Julian yelp in surprise.

"It hurts doesn't it?" Luca said, remembering the first time he'd met the witch.

"Who brings their wand to the loo with them?" Hermione heard Julian whisper. It had become a habit of hers, ever since she and Ron had been attacked in June. She never went anywhere without it, yes many thought she was paranoid, but she didn't care. Having her wand with her helped her feel safe. Shaking her head of these thoughts, she hopped in the shower, washing away the smell of the hospital, and dragons.

HCHCHCHCHC

"So what are you late for any ways?" Charlie asked as Hermione was making her way back to her bedroom.

"Linny invited me over for dinner tonight, since this will be my first weekend off since I started." Hermione explained.

"Oh right, I forgot, three days off, what will you do with yourself?" Luca said sarcastically.

"So does this mean that you won't be coming to the Horntail tonight?" Julian asked, sounding quite put out.

"Sorry, maybe tomorrow." Hermione answered with a sympathetic tone, as she closed the bedroom door. Quickly, Hermione dried her hair, and got dressed, putting on some lip balm, she walked back out into the cramped living room to put on her shoes.

"So what are you boys up to tonight?" Hermione inquired.

"The usual, drinks at the Horntail, and then maybe back to Luca's." Julian answered. "Hey you should stop by after you leave Linny's!" Julian said, reclaiming his previous enthusiasm.

"Sorry I think it's going to be a pretty late night, I have been at work all day, I'll probably just want to go to bed after." Hermione said walking into the kitchen to grab a bottle of wine. "I'll see you tomorrow okay?"

"All right, hey will you make those cookies like you did for Mark's birthday last month?" Julian asked. _Honestly he could be so juvenile sometimes_, Hermione thought to herself.

"I'll see what I can do," she replied.

"Thanks Herms-ah I mean Hermione." Julian said, now afraid of the consequences for his slip up.

Hermione just laughed saying goodbye as she made her way out the door.

HCHCHCHCHC

It wasn't until just before midnight that Hermione made her way through the front gate of their cottage. To most, twelve was not very late, but to Hermione, it might as well have been four in the morning. The latest she had stayed up since arriving was ten-thirty. Relishing in the fact that she didn't have to wake up early tomorrow, Hermione opened the door, kicking off her shoes as she went. Charlie wasn't home yet, not that she had expected anything different. Ever since his precious _Luca_ had returned, he'd spent almost every night out drinking with random women who liked to frequent the Horntail in search of a Keeper boyfriend. The women never seemed to stick though. It seemed that his last girlfriend, Katherine, had really ruined him. None of their friends ever mentioned her name, let alone the disastrous relationship. The only reason Hermione tolerated it was that Charlie seemed to respect her space, and never brought any of these women home. He either went back to their place, or Luca's. She wouldn't even have known it was happening if it wasn't for the teasing from their friends and the stories that went around town.

Linny had told her that for the past two years, Charlie had been floating from girl to girl, never having a relationship that lasted more than a weekend. After his terrible breakup with Katherine, it had taken two weeks for Luca and the rest of his friends to get him to leave the house. He had been a total wreck according to Linny's friend Gareth, who had seen him at the _Horntail_ the first time since the breakup. Luca apparently had been so worried about him that he had taken time off from work as well to keep his best friend company. It had taken three months for things to return to normal, afterwards Luca seemed determined to keep Charlie going from girl to girl, trying to help him forget Katherine. After awhile it just became a habit of theirs. Luca as well never wanted to be in the same situation as Charlie, and decided that relationships just weren't for him either. It was still a mystery though as to what had exactly happened between Charlie and the woman who broke his heart, and Hermione was just itching to tell him what she thought of the lifestyle he was leading.

It was then that Hermione tripped over something walking to her room, looking down she saw Charlie's shoe. _That's odd, why didn't he leave his shoe by the door?"_ Hermione wondered. _Wait, where is he?_ Looking around, the red headed man wasn't anywhere to be seen. Her attention was brought to her bedroom door as she heard Charlie's voice coming from the other side. _Great! It seemed that Charlie, in his drunken state, had forgotten that the bedroom was hers now._ _It was odd though, that he should be home so early._ _I wonder why? _Hermione mused.

Opening the door, Hermione had her answer.


	6. Over Reactions

**A/N: Hey guys! Glad you all liked the last chapter, please review! I love them all!**

Chapter 6

Opening the door, Hermione had her answer. "Charlie Weasley! What on earth do you think you're doing!" Hermione yelled. For in her bed, was not an unconscious Charlie, but a very awake Charlie, and joining him was one of his nameless trollops from the bar. With a shriek and a grunt, the girl with icky blonde hair wrapped the sheet around herself, self consciously, while Charlie fell to the floor.

"Hermione! What are you doing here! You said you'd be out late tonight!" Charlie said sitting up, thankfully his trousers were still intact, Hermione couldn't say the same for the woman now reaching for her knickers at the end of the bed though.

"It _is_ late! And it shouldn't matter what time I come home! I shouldn't have to worry that you'll be in bed with some... some floozy!" Hermione said throwing her hands up in the air.

"I'm sorry I didn't know he had a girlfriend." The woman said to Hermione, getting up off the bed.

"I'm not his girlfriend! But this is my bed!" Hermione yelled back, "Now both of you get out!" Hermione couldn't help it, seeing that woman on top of Charlie had ignited something inside of her. She was furious and didn't seem capable of holding back.

"You know it was _my_ bed before you came along!" Charlie shouted, standing up. "Do you have any idea how hard it's been having to live with you! I haven't had a good nights sleep since I was ordered to bring you back here! I haven't complained, not once!" The woman Charlie had met at the bar slipped out unnoticed by the arguing couple.

Hermione started to tear up at his hurtful words, "Well I'm so _sorry_ that you've had to live with me, really it must have been hard," she said, her voice cracking. "I can't even begin to imagine how hard it must have been for _you_! To have your life changed in an instant, without your permission or choice! And on top of it all being forced to live with someone you barely know or can stand! If it's so horrible for _you_ why don't you just leave!" Hermione said pointing to the door.

"Fine! I'm so glad you got the weekend off, _you obviously need it_." Charlie said muttering the last bit. The whole house shook when he slammed the door, Hermione slept on the couch that night, no matter how many times she changed the sheets, she felt as if the bed was dirty. She wouldn't be able to sleep in it again.

HCHCHCHCHC

The next day Hermione was woken up by the sound of someone knocking on the door. "Charlie!" Hermione said, clamouring off the couch. Her expression fell slightly upon opening the door. "Hi Chloe," she said rubbing the sleepiness from her eyes, as she let her friend into the living room.

"Hello love," Chloe said giving her a kiss on the cheek. "The boys have sent me to talk to you," she said cutting right to the point. That was one of the things that Hermione loved most about her. She was very no-nonsense when it came to serious matters, but at the same time one of the most feminine women she knew. You wouldn't be able to tell it by the way she looked, long, untamed, wavy black hair down to just below her shoulders, her skin being freckled and tan from all the time spent out doors, and her standard attire being jeans and a t-shirt, if she wasn't wearing her Keeper robes. "So what happened?" Chloe asked, sitting down on the couch that Hermione had just vacated.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, not meeting her gaze.

Chloe snorted at Hermione's poor lying skills, "Hermione, please don't insult my intelligence. Daniel and I have been at Luca's for the past hour trying to calm down a very upset and very angry Charlie. Now tell me what happened?"

"What? Charlie didn't tell you?"

"Yes, he did but I want to hear your side of the story as well." Chloe replied quite rationally, making Hermione feel like even more of child.

"I over reacted. I came home, earlier than Charlie had anticipated, and I walked in on him and some woman in my bed. I was more angry at him than the situation. I was _so_ mad, I just kind of let it all out, and before I knew it we were both yelling at each other. I feel horrible Chloe, I shouldn't have lost it like that, I don't know what came over me," Hermione said putting her face in her hands.

"It's all right. We all loose our cool every once in awhile." Chloe said, putting a comforting arm around Hermione's form.

"You and Daniel don't. I never see you argue." Hermione replied.

"Of course we fight! We fight all the time, we just don't let anybody else see it." Chloe laughed.

"But I thought you guys were the perfect couple." Hermione said hopelessly.

Chloe laughed again, "Hermione nobody's perfect! But we all make it work, I love Daniel and Daniel loves me. So we get through it. Besides, making up is the best part!" Chloe said mischievously, giggling as Hermione blushed.

"So what do I do?" Hermione said looking up at her friend for guidance.

"Well look, today's Saturday. Why don't you give you and Charlie the rest of the day to cool off. Tomorrow go over to Luca's and make peace and be done with it." Chloe said punctuating the last word with a slap to her knee. "Now I want you to get up, and stop feeling sorry for yourself. Don't you dare waste a day off moping about the house!" Chloe ordered, standing up. "Why don't you come over to my place and have lunch with Daniel and I, I'll invite Mark and Garrett over as well. How does that sound?"

"That sounds perfect." Hermione said giving her a slightly watery smile.

"Lovely. Now go take a shower, I'll see you in an hour."

"An hour?" Hermione asked bemused.

"Yup it's already eleven, you slept through the whole morning!" Chloe said walking over to the door. "I'll see you in a bit!"

HCHCHCHCHC

Chloe had been right, lunch at her place had been just what Hermione needed, walking back home she thought about the night before and what had happened. She was so embarrassed now. _How could she have acted that way? Would Charlie ever forgive her? _Something told her that he would, because he was Charlie and he was one of the kindest people she had ever met.

"Oi Hermione! I thought that was you!" Hermione turned around to see Cailean coming up the path behind her.

"Hey Cailean, how are you?" Hermione said with false cheeriness.

"I'm fine. An' yerself?" Cailean replied.

"I'm okay, a bit tired is all." Hermione answered. "So where are you off to? You don't have to work today?"

"Nah, I've got this weekend off, I'm just on my way over to Stela's."

"Stela's? You're friends with Stela?" Hermione couldn't help the shocked tone in her voice. She had known Stela and Cailean for just over two months, and never would she have thought they'd be friends.

"Yeah, I'm as shocked as you are. About a month ago she was healin' me up after a pretty bad fight with a Fireball. Any ways we got to talkin' and realized that we have a lot in common." Cailean explained.

"Wait are you two seeing each other?"

"Oh no, it's nothing like that, she's not really my type. I tend to go for brunettes," Cailean said winking at Hermione.

"Honestly Cailean! Do you ever give up?" Hermione said shoving him playfully.

"Not in my nature Miss." Cailean said, flashing her a devilish grin.

"Well I don't want to keep you from your precious _date_ with Stela." Hermione said in a mocking tone.

"Ohh jealous are we?" Cailean said hopeful.

"I just don't need to give Stela another reason not to like me. She already hates me plenty." Hermione said.

"Stela doesn't _hate_ you Hermione, she is just rough 'round the edges is all. Her life hasn't been too easy, just remember that all right?"

"What do you mean by that?" Hermione shot back.

"It's not my place to say." Cailean said shaking his head.

"Oh all right, I don't want to put you in a awkward position." Hermione said, defeated.

"You can put me in any awkward position you like as long as it's not that one." Cailean said with a chuckle.

"Goodbye Cailean." Hermione said in a warning tone, as she walked through the gate to her cottage, leaving Cailean to start off in the opposite direction to Stela's house.

HCHCHCHCHC

The next morning Hermione was once again woken up by a noise, this time it was an incessant tapping. Looking up from the couch Hermione could see that there was an owl at the window. Upon opening the window the owl swooped in, landing on the coffee table in front of the sofa. She wondered idly who would be writing her, _Surly it wasn't Ron or Harry, no one from home was aloud to write her._ Looking at the envelope that was now in her hand she sighed, seeing

_Charles Weasley_

written across it in bold script. _Of course it was for Charlie. _Leaving it on the coffee table, Hermione went to get ready for the day.

When Hermione left the cottage an hour later it was with a stomach full of lead. She was afraid that Charlie might still be too mad at her to return home. The truth was that she missed him, even if it had only been a day since she'd last seen him.

HCHCHCHCHC

Taking a deep breath Hermione knocked on the door, and waited for someone to answer. "Hermione, you're here." Luca said hesitantly, looking over at someone to his right that Hermione couldn't see, but assumed was Charlie.

"Yes I am, and I'd like to talk to Charlie if you don't mind." Hermione said with a sniff.

"Umm, sure. You know what, I've been meaning to ask Damien a question any ways, I'll just go to his place now," Luca said walking out the front door before even letting Hermione enter. "See you later Hermione." Luca called walking down the path.

Looking back at the opened door Hermione hesitantly made her way into the small cottage. Hermione herself had only been there a handful of times, it was very similar to her and Charlie's cottage, she imagined most of the cottages were.

Turning to her left she saw Charlie looking over at her with a stern expression on his face, leaning against a bookshelf, his arms crossed in a defensive manner. "Hello Charlie."

"Hi," Charlie all but whispered. "How are you?"

Hermione chuckled at the pleasantry. "I've been better."

_Silence_

"Look I'm sorry okay, I shouldn't have lost my temper like that. I hate fighting with you, please just come back home." Hermione said wiping a few stray tears from her eyes. "It's been so hard these past few months. I can't talk to anyone about my problems, you're the only one who knows why I'm really here. When I first got here I didn't mind because I saw you all the time. Then Luca came back and it was like I had just been a reserve, you suddenly weren't there for me to talk to anymore. I guess I didn't realize how much it had effected me until now."

"I'm sorry, I had no idea you felt that way. Hermione I've had so much fun living with you these past months, I love having you around. I guess we both just kind of lost it, we're all allowed that." Hermione ran over to Charlie then, embracing him, trying to let him know just how sorry she was. "Look you've got the day off today, right?" At her nod, Charlie continued, "Why don't you and I go and visit the dragons, I never did get to introduce you to them. We've both been so busy. Come on I think it'll be fun!" Charlie said nudging her.

"All right, that actually sounds perfect, can we visit Norberta too?" Hermione asked wiping the tears from her face.

"Whatever you want." Charlie said with a smile.


End file.
